If you’re on the prowl for a weekend cooking project, how about making a pie? From scratch? Including pastry? And not just any old pie but a Canadian Christmas one. Meet tourtière, a trad dish from Quebec, whose name comes from the type of deep dish used to bake it. Traditionally it’s served during Réveillon, a festive meal on Christmas Eve, plus on New Year's Eve as well as on other festive occasions. It’s also eaten more generally as comfort food during the colder months and it’s fair to say that anywhere that gets as low as -50C for great chunks of the year will have comfort-food cooking down pat.

While there are loads of tourtière variations, with different meats and vegetable combinations used, the basic filling formula is the same. Namely, mince flavoured with a variety of warming spices, mixed with mashed potato or breadcrumbs to bind and give the filling some hefty structure. It’s baked between layers of a sturdy, buttery pastry, with a hole in the top for letting steam escape. Once baked, the pie is served with ketchup or a classic pickle like Branston, and all you need to go alongside is a green salad. 

We know we’re always saying ‘this isn’t hard to make’ and look, this pie really isn’t. You just need to break the jobs down. Make your pastry first and get it chilling; you can even make it a couple of days in advance if you like. Cooking the filling is no more complicated than making any meaty mixture using mince; just let it cool a little before piling it into your pastry-lined dish. The filling can also be made a day or two ahead if that works better for your schedule. Roll out your pastry (you need to use a bit of muscle here) and fill the pie dish just before baking; don’t do this too far in advance or your pastry can go soggy while it waits for the oven. Once baked, let your tourtière cool a little so it’s easier to slice, and don’t worry if your filling falls apart a bit when you cut into it. Everything will still taste amazing no matter what shape it’s in when it hits serving plates. 

SERVES 6-8

Pastry

450g (3 cups) plain flour

1 tsp salt

225g cold unsalted butter, chopped

100ml iced water, approximately

Filling

2 large potatoes (about 650g), peeled and cut into large chunks

3-4 tbsp olive or canola oil

1 onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, trimmed and finely chopped

800g beef mince

2½ tbsp dijon mustard

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp salt

1 tsp each ground cinnamon and ginger 

½ tsp each chilli powder and ground nutmeg

large pinch ground cloves

2 tbsp chopped thyme leaves, or 2 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp chopped sage leaves, or 1 tsp dried sage

1 large egg, beaten

1 egg yolk, beaten with 2 tsp water

condiments (sweet pickles, chutneys, relish, tomato sauce), to serve

green salad, to serve

For the pastry, combine the flour, salt and butter in a food processor. Using the pulse button, pulse just until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large bowl, then add enough iced water to form a coarse dough, mixing with your hands and being careful not to add too much water or your pastry will be tough. The dough should be quite firm. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it once or twice to bring the dough together. Cut off a third of the dough, then form both pieces of dough into a flattened disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight to rest. 

For the filling, cook the potato in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well, then set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat half the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and celery, then cook, stirring often, for 8-9 minutes or until the vegetables have softened. While they cook, heat the remaining oil in a large, heavy-based frypan over high heat. Add the mince, in batches if necessary and using more oil if you need to, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-7 minutes until browned and any excess liquid has evaporated. Remove the vegetables from the heat, then stir in the beef, mustard, pepper, salt, spices and chopped herbs. 

Coarsely mash half the cooled potatoes in a large bowl and finely chop the remaining potato. Add the mashed and chopped potato to the meat mixture, stirring to thoroughly combine.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.Roll the larger piece of pastry out to a large circle about 3mm thick, then use to line a 5 cm deep, 21cm tart tin. Trim the edges, leaving a 1cm overhang. Brush lightly with some of the egg yolk mixture. Pile in the filling, spreading it evenly. Roll out the remaining piece of pastry into a 3mm thick round. Place it over the filling, trim the edges, leave about 1cm, then use your fingers to crimp and seal the edges. brush the top of the pie with the remaining egg yolk mixture, then use a small cookie cutter to cut a circle out of the middle of the pastry. Use the tip of a small, sharp knife to mark the top of the pastry if you like, then .bake for 1 hour or until the pastry is crisp and deep golden. Cool for about 20 minutes before serving warm, with condiments such as ketchup, pickles, or chutneys, and a fresh green salad.